tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post5987896044186079533..comments2024-03-18T13:27:42.621-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: NYT CCSS ELA PRPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-88524455431579178122015-12-01T08:46:52.716-05:002015-12-01T08:46:52.716-05:00Actually, I think there are two very, very intenti...Actually, I think there are two very, very intentional reasons why Coleman changed the focus in the ELA standards to be weighted so much more toward informational text: <br /><br />First of all, the original plan was to get everyone on the same page (so to speak)--taking the SAME TEST and maybe even using the same curricula--for example, those "free" (highly-scripted) "Modules" on EngageNY (that my tax dollars have paid for) which can be downloaded royalty-free by any cash-strapped district in the country... (And BTW, now we have John King, "Mr. EngageNY", himself, as the head of ED...)<br /><br />In order to get all states to adopt these new, DIFFERENT standards, they had to make them different enough from what states were using in order to justify switching and to dupe the public into believing this was something really new that we "desperately" needed.<br /><br />The other reason is that "informational text" is much easier to GRADE BY MACHINE. (And BTW, "informational text" does not equal "non-fiction"--we are not really trying to include much in the way of persuasive writing, for example--opinion pieces are not as easy to robo-grade as straight informational text.) According to actual studies, "The machines scored particularly well on two data sets which included shorter, SOURCE-BASED essays." [emphasis mine] (See here: http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2014/03/25/why-computer-scored-essays-could-eliminate-the-need-for-writing-tests/) (And remember Coleman's insistence that students only look at the actual documents and not rely on any background information?...)<br /><br />Don't forget who paid for the Common Cor(porat)e Standards (with his ideas that technology is the answer to all questions)... Listen, again, to what Gates, himself, actually said to the Council of State Legislatures in July 2009 as the standards were being developed and States were being pressured to adopt them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtTK_6VKpf4 (It's only 1.5 minutes, but it says a lot...)<br />Ann Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16909309748299032224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-82945886711469803982015-06-23T13:52:36.730-04:002015-06-23T13:52:36.730-04:00Is it just me, or does this "read only a few ...Is it just me, or does this "read only a few paragraphs, you'll get everything you needed anyway" nonsense sound strikingly like the slide towards "digests of digests" in Fahrenheit 451? Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17636728240804210532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-11451530441811355942015-06-23T09:30:16.547-04:002015-06-23T09:30:16.547-04:00Are ELA classes the only ones where students read?...Are ELA classes the only ones where students read? It seems to me that the main thrust of the percentages is to encourage students to read in non-literature classes as well as literature classes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-14974361749643794482015-06-21T22:01:18.174-04:002015-06-21T22:01:18.174-04:00I want to cry. Heaven forbid kids read a whole no...I want to cry. Heaven forbid kids read a whole novel and actually FEEL something.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04996620109892561477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-87753879340904214632015-06-21T19:44:48.437-04:002015-06-21T19:44:48.437-04:00Literature, and fiction in general, can help stude...Literature, and fiction in general, can help students to develop empathy and "see other people as fully human".Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-72354701006290339172015-06-21T15:27:34.655-04:002015-06-21T15:27:34.655-04:00"She also fails to note that Common Core incr..."She also fails to note that Common Core increasingly means whatever the local authorities want it to mean, or nothing at all."<br /><br />When my youngest sister was in kindergarten, she always brough home art work which featured a blotch of red in the middle. Finally, my mother asked her what the red thing was. My sister: "It's a gongee." "But what's a gongee?" "It's whatever you want it to be!" Just like the CCSS.laMissyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00516322307725011313noreply@blogger.com